What is Art, Other than a Window to the Soul…

Bobbi’s Gnocchi

My mother was on a mission to find the very best gnocchi recipe out there, and didn’t find it. She ended up mixing three different recipes and her own creativity to come up with the softest, fluffiest pillows of potato that you have ever tasted.

I can’t wait to try this myself. Eating it was tasting heaven.

Recipe for Bobbi’s Gnocchi

3 large Idaho baking potatoes (1 ¾ pounds) scrubbed

1 large egg

1 teas, Salt

¼ teas fresh ground white pepper

Healthy pinch of nutmeg

¼ cup fresh grated parmigiano reggiano cheese

Lemon rind

Place potatoes in large pot of cold water to cover. Bring to boil and cook partially covered until potatoes are easily pierced but skins not split (about 35 minutes)

OR potatoes can be baked in pre-heated oven 400 degrees until tender, (about 40 minutes)

Drain.

Let them stand until cool enough to handle. The hotter the potatoes are when peeled and riced, the lighter the gnocchi will be.

Press through ricer, don’t compact them. Let cool.

In small bowl, beat egg, salt , pepper, nutmeg.

Gather cool potatoes into mound and make a well, knead potatoes and egg and add cheese gradually and flour, (about 1 ½ cups) to form a smooth but slightly sticky dough. Should not take longer than 3 minutes.

The more flour used, the heavier it will be.

Cut into 6 pieces. Roll into a rope ¼ inch thick, then cut the ropes into one inch pieces.

Add Asiego cheese. Cut asiago cheese into ¼ piece and push a piece into each gnocchi.

Roll gnocchi into palm of hand and shape like small footballs. Dust hands and gnocchi with flour as needed.

Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Add Gnocchi to pot and boil until all the gnocchi floats to the top. (4 to 6 minutes)

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I’ve discovered a cool place to put up my photos and share photos with others, but I want a place to upload my photos first so I can keep track of them, other than, “Uploaded by user” which is what they all say now. So, since this board has been pretty empty, I found a neat photo theme to try out and I think I will use this as a place to put up my photos.

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Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.

~Oprah Winfrey

Such great plans I had for posting here last year.

Obviously THAT rarely happened! I had great dreams of doing the 365 project and posting the pictures here every day and on Flckr. You can see how well that turned out. The funny thing is I took the pictures. Hundreds of them. Far, far more than 365 of them. More like thousands of them, some horrible ones, some great ones ones, some that are as boring as a plain vanilla pudding.

I took so many that I couldn’t manage all of them. Some of them ended up on Flckr. Then, I opened an account on Picasa and many of them are there. Others are strewn about on various computers around the house that I happened to upload them to, because it was the closest one at the time. I admit it, I have been a photographer management disaster. Somehow, I kept telling myself that I would sit down and get it all organized but…huh…I looked up the other day and somehow, magically, it was 2011. Looks like I know what one of my resolutions should be. Find some way to organize mountains of digital photographs into one place.

The Inspired Artist (Ahem…that is supposed to be me…) picked up a paint brush a total of three times last year. She posted on this blog exactly ONE time. Her garden was a collection of rambling roses, self-seeding annuals and hardy perennials who refused to give up on her and weeds that were faster then her once every couple of weeks attempts at yanking them out of the ground. The only time she took her guitar out of it’s case was to tune it once and put it back in.

SIGH….

I could beat myself up over those things. But I’m not going to. The thing is, that despite my best laid plans, dreams and aspirations at the beginning of last year,there was no way I was going to keep up with all of the lofty goals I had created on my New Year’s Dream List last year. But I got to a lot of them. And besides, I am practicing the art of imperfection. I find I get a lot more done and have a lot more fun doing it if I focus on what I do and not what I didn’t do.

Here is what I DID do in 2010.

Focused on a year of learning the basics of my new camera, taking thousands of pictures and documenting all of the events of our fun year.

Wrote a paranormal fantasy adventure romance novel, Loyalties, with my business partner, Deb Dorchak and published it through Blue Sun Studio, inc. It is currently available at Amazon.com and will be available in a growing number of places shortly.

Partnered with my husband to write an original drama, which we then performed, at Church for Reformation Sunday.

Directed the third annual performance of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, the first week of December.

Formed a new corporation and had a very successful first year of business at Blue Sun Studios, inc.

Won the War against Clutter and kicked out an entire dumpster of …excuse me…CRAP…out of our house this summer with the help of our family.

Also won the War against Rabbits this summer by building- (This one was mostly my husband) a fenced in Vegetable garden complete with cute little door that kept those buggers out and provided us with delectable veggies well into the third frost.

Went on a spectacular Michigan week long, beach-side family vacation in July with John and the kids and extended family.

Went on the best ever anniversary camping trip to Door County, Wisconsin with my wonderful husband John and spent the entire time trying out great recipes in this old, old, old Dutch Oven that I fell in love with and almost loved more than him…..

Went on a autumn retreat to Asheville, N. Carolina were I received great mentoring from my coach, Christine Kane, and came away with new knowledge, clarity and vision for the new year to come.

And those are only a few of the highlights. The day to day parties and family stuff, that’s always worth writing about.

I’m tempted to say, “My oh my…where did the months fly off to?” But when I look at my list, I can see clearly where they went.

The Inspired Artist has been writing and taking pictures. Oh- and cooking. I have hundreds of pictures of new recipes, some good- some, that are…well, we can call them experiments and just move on. I won’t tell you what my kids called them. I’d like to think of my cooking as art…just don’t ask my kidst, they would rather have McDonalds. But what do they know, they have yet to even begin to fully explore the vast ways that life can become artistic.

What lies ahead for the Inspired Artist in 2011

Our first book in the series, Bonds of Blood and Spirit, Loyalties, now available on Kindle, is coming out in hard copy any time now. In fact, I am spending my days waiting by the mailbox for my copy. Then we start the challenging process of marketing and selling. That may not sound artistic to some, but there is not much that takes more inspiration than the skills of marketing, advertising and promoting. The world of sales writing and marketing is a creative beast at best! I know I will be spending plenty of time here this year. But not to worry, sales and marketing is where I got my start in business back when my family first started our own business and I’ve never shut up since. It will all be good.

Book two in the series, Uncivil Wars is being written as we speak. Deb and I carve out sacred time every week from January to May to write the novels. The rest of the year is spent in editing and formating and creating the fine details of the next story. This story has already written itself through part one and is so clear to both of us I’ll be surprised if we don’t beat our four month time line of the last book. This one is a movie playing in my head already. It just may pick up the pen and write itself if we don’t get to it!

Photography improvements– it’s time to go to stage two. I’ve spent a year clicking away and teaching myself everything I can on my own. Me and my camera have just celebrated our one year anniversary together and we are ready for something new in our relationship. I am looking forward to this being the year I really kick up the game. I want to master some key Photoshop skills, some editing tricks and learn some advance photo shooting tips. Oh- yeah, and then there is that storage problem. I need to find a good system for keeping all my photos in one reachable place.

Writing, writing, writing... There is so much more to my writing besides the novels. Amazingly, they take up only a small disciplined part of the week. the rest of the time is spent coaching clients on their writing projects, writing plays and smaller scripts and stories, writing articles and blog posts for various websites and editing and reviewing other content and writing. Writing has began to take up a growing number of hours in my day. And I can asure you- I have NO complaints about that.

Directing- The theater group is growing. This year I expect it to grow even larger with more theater meetings, workshops, dramas and opportunities for participation in a lot of different ways for the members of the Beginnings Drama Team. John and I have already put our heads together to start picking out dramas for the Sunday ones and are looking for a great script for Good Friday.

Art– In all of its glorious forms. I really want to pick up that paint brush this year. The question is what kind of paint do I want to put on it after I’ve picked it up? I’ve been focusing on watercolor while the kids were little, less mess, no smell…but now my heart is yearning for bolder strokes, brighter color, richer tones…and I am feeling the pull back to oils and acrylics. Maybe I’ll take a class and brush up. No pun intended there… I’m also getting the feeling that I’d like to go back to practicing making jewelry again. Don’t hold your breath on this one. I might just go lie down til the feeling passes, but it’s there. For the moment anyhow.

Gardening. So help me lord, if I have one more year with a weed garden, I’ll spit. That’s all I’m going to say for now. But seriously. I have to spend more time in the garden this year. It’s embarrassing.

So, unless I get too busy living life instead of posting about it, I’ll use these pages as an Inspired Artist Journal to keep track of the artistic endeavors of the year.

Welcome to my artist’s playground. Please, I’d love it if you leave your thoughts and comments and share what you plan to do in 2011. Hopefully together, we will both be around to play here this year!

This is day two of Project 365. I spent so much time trying to upload Day one’s pictures in my very nontechnical way that by the time I got around to actually using my camera, it was dark outside and frigid.

The wind was kicking up around my ankles and the temperatures had dropped below zero. Not very much fun for my first adventure out with my new camera. Luckily for me, the porch light was right outside the front door. It caught my eye the way the light glowed pink against the stark gray branches lighting them up with a haunting glow.

Funny how that lamppost has been right outside my front door every night for the past seventeen years. Have I ever paid attention to it? Did I see the way the pink light spilled from its casing to spring to life the withered branches?

NO, not really.

It took a camera frame to make me see what has been right outside me door every night.

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Lately the paintbrush has been put down and replaced by my latest toy, my camera. Santa was oh so generous and brought me a new digital camera for Christmas and I am truly in love.

I won’t even pretend to say that I know how to use it or that I have even a clue as to what all of the buttons and settings mean, but my first resolution of the year is…by golly by the end of this year I WILL!

My friend and business partner Allison sent me a link to a flickr project called The 365. Every day for 365 days, we who choose to join will add one picture to our own 365 projects and upload them to flickr.

So, I have joined. And because The Inspired artist! is the place for all of my artistic experiments and endeavors, I shall do my best to upload them here as well. Perhaps not daily, maybe a weekly diary of the week or something. I’m not sure how it will go.

But join us if you want. It isn’t too late, your day one can start on any day.

One of my goals this year is to immerse myself more into my artistic side this year-in other ways besides the written word. Oh, I’ll still write. Of that, there is no doubt. For me, not writing is like not having air to breath.

I write in my journal almost daily. And if more than a day goes by that I am not creating fiction with my writing partners, it is a very sad and lost feeling. That part of my life has become a part of me.

I wish for my painting, my camera and my love of design to all come together this year in the same way. To lift me higher in my awareness as an artist. To open my eyes wider to the world around me. To bring me closer in touch with who I am in connection with the world.

My imprint…through art.

Join me, share with me, here and at flicker and in the other places I play. I look forward to getting to know you.

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Spring is in the air here in the Midwest and with the warm sun and fresh air, I get inspired this time of the year to try new recipes and create new dishes out of ones I have read about or heard about before. To me, cooking is very much an art that I love to play with!

Looking through my May Bon Apetite magazine I found a Beef and Broccoli with Yams recipe ( page 45) that seemed interesting but I didn’t have any Yams on hand and…it didn’t look as if it would be enough heat in it for my fire- loving family.

So with a little tweaking, I came up with a version of my own and thought I would share it with you here. It was a big hit at our house, with a bright flavor and just the right amount of heat. I made little comments to help back off some of the heat if you like a more mild flavor.

Add all ingredients together except ginger. Cover and simmer on low heat for 40 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed. Add salt, pepper to taste and stir in Ginger. Serve.

Start rice first. While rice is simmering:

Stir first five ingredients of Beef and Broccoli list together, mix until brown sugar is dissolved. Set aside.

Place sliced beef in large bowl. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, add cornstarch and toss to coat. Add orange bits and one teaspoon of ginger.

Heat 1½ tablespoons oil in large wok or heavy skillet on high heat. Add beef and stir-fry until no longer pink, about 3 minutes. Transfer to large bowl.

Heat remaining oil in same skillet, add broccoli, mushrooms and ½ teaspoon ginger, add salt and pepper to taste, add sauce and toss to coat. Turn heat down to medium high, cover and cook until veggies are tender, about five minutes. Add beef to veggies, toss to coat, sprinkle with remaining ginger, serve with rice.

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May the blessing of light be on you–
light without and light within.
May the blessed sunlight shine on you
and warm your heart
till it glows like a great peat fire.

How was your St. Patrick’s Day? Fun? Boring? same old, same old? very special?

Being that we are a family that can trace both mine and my husband’s Irish heritage down to single towns in Ireland, ( and not that far away from each other!)We tend to make a big deal out of the holiday.

My husband John’s family has been doing a wonderful and somewhat unconventional celebration each year of getting together and cooking Stuffed Cornish Hens out on the grill. Not that there is anything all that Irish about Cornish hens, but they tried it one year, liked it and have kept with it for around 20 years.

When we got married, and I added my Irish/Italian family to the mix, it expanded the group from a modest number of 6 participants to a gang of 16! SO, the party moved over to our house and gave me a chance to stretch my party planning creativity. This has become one of my favorite holidays. This was our third year now and we had a great time!

The menu is planned out ahead of time and doesn’t change much from year to year. Each member of the family focuses on bringing special dishes. John’s mother and brother focused on making the homemade stuffing and stuffing the Hens. My mother made the homemade double baked potatoes, My daughter brought salad and beverages and my son and my future daughter-in-law brought desserts galore! John and I make two types of homemade beer, one Irish stout and an Irish Brown Ale, homemade bread, appetizers and the asparagus. Then John and his assistants spend the day outside on the patio manning two grills to get the hens grilled to perfection. Everyone pitches in and works together to make the feast amazing!

Emilie’s amazing desserts will now become St Patty Day classics, as I am sure everyone will clamour for them every year. They were as delicious as they look!

The table decorations are very simple too. I found a green St Patrick’s Day tablecloth on a clearance rack and the green pails were at Target for 2 dollars each. A little ivy tossed in the pails, a few sunny daffodils, two green candles and some green paper napkins filled out the whimsical and festive table. I love to put together simple and inexpensive items to create an artistic table presentation without breaking the budget!

The entire day was filled with Irish music that John had created a playlist of, there was much laughter and conversation, and a warm fire crackled in the fireplace adding to the cozy Day. The girls took some time out for a manicure session and took turns painting each others nails green.

One of my favorite things about being married to John is that we both share the value that Family comes first. We love to have our family arround us, celebrating the special days of our lives and we love to take the little extra moments to add in the simple things that make it special. This St. Patrick’s Day is one that will be a lasting memory for all time and I am already thinking of new ideas for next year!

How about you? I would love to hear any ideas that you might want to share about how you spent the holiday. I am always on the look out for clever ideas to stick in my holiday planning journal. Please share!

If you enjoy what you see here, you may also enjoy our sister blog: Life’s Little Inspirations, a blog about living an Inspired Life. See you there!

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If any of my long time readers have suddenly found this blog in their Readers this morning and are confused, I offer my apologies!

This used to be the original blog of Life’s Little Inspirations, however since we moved that blog over to it’s new home in July of last year, this one has sat, silent and alone for the past several months.

Except it hasn’t. Despite the fact that I haven’t posted anything since last July, LLI- The Original has stubbornly lived on with readers coming here every day since we closed the doors. It makes me feel bad to watch these numbers of dedicated or new readers linger on each month looking for something new.

So…I’ve come home, slapped on a new coat of paint and given it a new name. I will begin posting here again but with a tighter focus on all things related to Art in the most general sense of the word. Since I have many artistic endeavors such as writing, theater, painting, gardening, cooking…just to name a few…this will be a nice place to share some of my more personal artsy side.

I am not going to take away any of the old posts, even though they are now posted on Life’s Little Inspirations. But starting today, this home has a new purpose and one I hope everyone will enjoy!

Welcome to the birth of: The Inspired Artist!

If you enjoy what you see here, you may also enjoy our sister blog: Life’s Little Inspirations, a blog about living an Inspired Life. See you there!

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Everything has been packed up tight and the moving truck has pulled out of the drive way. It’s time to say goodbye to our first little home at Life’s Little Inspirations and move in to our new big Community Center by the lake.

Harry and James from Men with Pens have been hard at work helping me…the technically challenged dim bulb… maneuver my way around in a world that might as well be blind to me. I could NOT have done this without them. Harry-forever more to be known as my blogging Knight in Shining Armour-is the most patient man I’ve ever met (with the possible exception of my husband) and has even managed to teach me how to do some of this stuff myself. That is a miracle!

James gets the credit for pushing me into this and holding me up with his uncanny knack for writing just what I always seem to need to hear at just the right time. His post on How to Exceed Expectationswas the exact post that convinced me to quit thinking about moving and actually DO it. Then today, while I spent the entire day laboring over things I had no idea how to do and faltering with last minute jitters, there he was again, holding me up with his post on Learning to Fly Without Wings. It made me smile. Take about inspiration! There have been several times in between where both of them have been right there with just what I needed at just the right moment without me even knowing I was going to need it. No doubt about it, the Pen Men live up to their reputation.

So now the champagne is uncorked, the glasses are filled and the party is ready to begin. Won’t you raise your glass with me? I’d like to propose a toast.

To the Men With Pens, Harry and James, the Diamond Standard Bearers of Customer Service and Satisfaction. Thank you with all my heart. You are both wonderful.

NOTE: Life’s Little Inspirations has moved off of this blog to our new address at http://lifeslittleinspirations.com/ There are new updated articles added there for your enjoyment. Please click on the link and come and join us there, we are waiting for you! If you are a subscriber here, please stay and enjoy this New Blog, The Inspired Artist! And please take a moment to re-subscribe at Life’s Little Inspirations at the new address so you don’t miss anything new posts there as well! Thank you for your support!